Staying in Denmark after graduation: how international students find a job

As a non-EU student in a state-approved higher education programme, your study permit comes with a limited work permit: 90 hours per month from September to May, and full-time in June, July and August. SIRI counts the hours per calendar month, so a busy week is fine if the month stays under the limit.

Working more than you are allowed is illegal work, and SIRI can fine you or revoke your permit. No job is worth that. Unpaid voluntary work for an organisation that benefits society does not count towards the 90 hours.

• Mandatory internship: if your programme includes one, you are automatically allowed to work full-time for the length of the internship. If it was not in your original permit, apply for a full-time work permit and wait until it is granted before you start.
• Non-state-approved programmes: if you applied for your study permit on or after 2 May 2025, you get no work permit at all.
• EU/EEA, Swiss and Nordic students have no limit on hours.

The establishment card was abolished as a scheme on 1 April 2023. What replaced it for most graduates is simpler: if you complete a state-approved Danish professional bachelor’s, bachelor’s, master’s or PhD, you can stay for up to 3 years to look for work. SIRI normally grants this along with your study permit, provided your passport is valid long enough.

During those 3 years you keep the student work limit: 90 hours a month, full-time in the summer months. You must not give up your Danish address or stay abroad for more than 6 consecutive months, or the permit lapses. You also cannot receive public benefits, including unemployment benefits, without risking the permit. Your spouse or cohabiting partner and children under 18 can stay with you.

You have two routes, and choosing well can save you months.

• Work permit without limitations (form ST7). You don’t need a job offer. You can work full-time for any employer, or be self-employed, from the day you submit the application. It lasts as long as your job-seeking permit.
• A residence and work permit based on a specific job, such as the Pay Limit Scheme for salaries of at least DKK 552,000 a year. This is what lets you stay once the job-seeking period ends. See which scheme fits your offer.

A sensible order for most graduates: apply for the unlimited permit first, because it is cheap and needs nothing from an employer, then move to a job-based permit well before the 3 years run out. Whichever you choose, submit the application no later than the day you start the new job. SIRI’s job change rule lets you work while it processes the case, but only if you applied first.

Academy Profession (AP) graduates from business academies get a 6-month job-seeking period, not 3 years, with the same 90-hour monthly limit. SIRI states plainly that AP graduates cannot apply for a work permit without limitations. That means your route to full-time work is a job-based permit, and your timeline is short. Start the job search in your final semester, not after the exam.

For most internationals, the first full-time offer comes from a student job (studiejob). A company that has watched you work 15 hours a week for a year has already done the hard part of hiring. Its biggest risk, not knowing how you work, is gone. When you are 3–6 months from graduating, tell your manager directly that you want to stay on full-time and ask what the path looks like.

Graduate programmes are the other structured route. Workindenmark describes them as salaried, fixed-term entry roles, typically lasting 18–24 months and usually requiring a master’s degree, with recruitment in a fixed window once or twice a year. They are competitive, and the tests start early.

• Thesis with a company: one of the few ways a student gets months of supervised, relevant work without a job title. Choose a problem the company will still care about when you finish.
• University career centres: use them for CV reviews, their job banks and company events. Book early in the semester before the slots fill up.
• Workindenmark: the public employment service for internationals has a search of English-language vacancies and a job fair calendar.

For the wider search, including networking and the hidden job market, follow the full Denmark job-search roadmap.

A graduate CV fails when it reads like a transcript. Recruiters want evidence that you can do the job, so put your strongest proof on the top third of page one. Keep it to one page. Open with a two-line profile naming the role you want, then put your experience section (student job, internship, thesis project) above coursework.

Write every bullet as an action and a result. A café or warehouse job still counts: it shows reliability, a Danish workplace and responsibility. For the format Danish employers expect, including photo and the ansøgning, see the Danish CV and cover letter guide. For layouts, see the internship CV example and the no-experience CV example.

You need no work permit and there is no limit on hours. Nordic citizens need no residence permit at all. EU/EEA citizens staying more than 3 months need an EU residence document, but as an active job seeker you can stay up to 6 months without one, and longer if you can show you are still looking and have a real chance of being hired.

One deadline matters more than any other: to get unemployment benefits on the graduate rules (dimittend), you must apply to join an a-kasse no later than 2 weeks after you finish your education. The graduate rules also require either a passed Danish test (Prøve i Dansk 2 with at least grade 02) or a record of paid work hours, so check with the a-kasse before you graduate.

PhD graduates get the same up-to-3-year job-seeking period and can apply for the unlimited work permit. If you stay in research, a researcher permit has no fixed salary threshold (pay must match Danish standards) and does not require full-time work. See the researcher route.

For industry roles, rewrite the academic CV. Two pages, not a publication list. Lead each research project with the problem, the method and the outcome someone outside your field would care about: a model, a dataset, a cost saving, a tool other people use.

Many Danish jobs do require Danish, particularly where you deal with citizens, patients or customers in Danish, and an English-taught degree does not change that. Start Danish lessons in your first year, not your last, and target employers that already work in English while your Danish catches up. The English-speaking jobs guide covers where those employers are and how to show your Danish level on a CV.